Chris Pine Accused Of Delay Tactics In Trespass Lawsuit

Chris Pine may not get another extension in his ongoing trespass case against a neighbor, as she vehemently opposes it.

The Hollywood hunk, who made his directorial debut in 2023’s “Poolman,” is scheduled to fight his neighbor Helen Yu in November. However, his lead attorney is pushing to postpone the court date.

While Chris Pine’s attorneys argued that they had good reasons for postponing the case, his neighbor believed they were trying to delay their battle. Per the actor’s request, the case has been rescheduled three times.

According to new court documents, Yu implored the judge not to accept Pine’s petition for a new trial date. She asked that the request made by the actor and his co-defendant, Bradley Lyons, be denied.

Yu argued that Pine had been given three continuances of the trial date since their case began. She explained that their initial trial date was December 4, 2023, but “It was continued to April 2, 2024.”

“It was continued again to August 5, 2024. And it was continued a third time to November 18, 2024,” Yu noted. She doubled down on Pine not needing a postponement by slamming his lead attorney, Thomas Brown’s arguments.

In the documents obtained by In Touch, Yu noted that Pine and Brown had enough time to depose witnesses if they wished. She also stressed that the actor had other lawyers working for him, adding:

“Defendants’ application to continue the trial date is not well taken and should be denied. It’s just a ploy to avoid trial and to avoid addressing the problem that necessitated the filing of this case.”

Pine and his co-defendant’s lead attorney filed a motion for continuance of the trial date. Brown, who has a hectic schedule, implored the court to move the November 18 trial until April 2025.

He explained that he was involved in two other trials immediately before and during the trial in this matter “which will overlap and [the cases are] five-plus and six-plus years old.” Brown claimed these cases would leave no room to prepare for Pine’s case.

The legal rep stressed that if the continuance wasn’t granted, Pine and his co-defendant would be left without their “lead trial attorney,” and they would “be forced to conduct a trial wholly unprepared.” Brown also noted the actor was scheduled to be deposed in the “coming weeks.”

The attorney claimed that without the postponement, he would be unable to attend the depositions, leaving Pine disadvantaged.However, given Yu’s resistance, it is unclear if a judge would grant them a fourth continuance of the trial date.

The drama between Pine and Yu began in 2022 when the latter sued the TV personality for trespass, nuisance, and negligence. His neighbor claimed she suffered damages after he installed numerous Ficus Benjamina trees on his property despite her sharing a boundary with his home.

In her lawsuit, Yu’s attorney argued that “Ficus Benjamina are known to have extremely invasive root systems,” and through “action or inaction” on Pine’s part, it led to the encroachment on his client’s home. This allegedly caused:

“Substantial and ongoing damage to [Helen’s home], including cracking of walls and substantial damages to the plumbing and pipes, pool, pool deck, and other areas in or around [Helen’s home].”

In the trespass lawsuit, Yu asked for unspecified damages, citing the alleged problems caused by Pine’s trees. Her legal rep claimed, “The encroachment upon and entry onto the [Helen’s home] by the [Chris’ trees] constitutes an ongoing and harmful nuisance.”

The lawyer noted it had “caused substantial and ongoing damage [Helen’s] property, created an unreasonably unsafe condition, and interfered with [Helen’s] use and enjoyment of their property.”

However, Pine denied all allegations of wrongdoing and countersued Yu for trespassing first. He argued that her fence was on his side of the property line and not the other way around.

In his countersuit, Pine explained he purchased the three-bedroom, three-bathroom, 2,205-square-foot home in 2010 for $3 million. However, he allegedly lost a lot of land because of Yu’s fence.

Therefore, he demanded the removal of her fence, but she refused to comply and denied all allegations in the countersuit. In her response, Yu’s attorney argued that:

“The hardship that [Helen] would suffer if forced to remove improvements from the disputed property would be greatly disproportionate to any hardship that [Chris] would suffer if the improvements are permitted to remain.”

How will the judge rule in the ongoing case between Chris Pine and his neighbor?